The XPointer by Deteknix: Exceeding my Expectations!

I love trying out new products and giving an honest review to my fellow detectorists. Why? Because I hunt, and I hunt a lot, so if I like something, then its obviously a necessary or great addition to your detecting gear.

I’ve sung the praises of the Xpointer pinpointer by Deteknix in the past. But I have yet to come across an item that warranted multiple reviews…until now.

I absolutely love my Xpointer! It has exceeded my expectations on all levels, and I just love it when a product exceeds my expectations.

I took some heat when I initially reviewed the product, shortly after its introduction to the US market. Folks came down on me because it was a new product. They thought I should have waited a while to see how it performed over time. I understood their concerns, but having been so satisfied with its performance after a few months of use, in addition to its reasonable price compared with other popular pinpointers, I felt the value and performance outweighed those concerns. After all, the Xpointer did have a two year guarantee, and I know how rough I am on my gear. If the Xpointer lasted the season with me, and was still working, then I knew it was a well built probe.

Some folks don’t use pinpointers, and while personal choice is their option, I can’t help but wonder if they are unaware of the usefulness of a pinpointer, or are just stubborn.

I don’t remember how I was able to retrieve my targets when I began this hobby, and didn’t even know what a pinpointer was. I do, however, remember that it was maddening, searching through the dirt for something my machine was insisting was there, but try as I might, my eyes just could not find it. Back then, I walked away from quite a few targets in frustration.

After discovering the usefulness of pinpointers in the field, I owned quite a few of the more popular brands. They all had their pros and cons, with each new purchase being a little better than the last, as I went up the scale in price, however, the day I first used the Xpointer, was one I will never forget.

I had heard mention of the Xpointer in my detecting circle, but I was a bit skeptical. I’m always enthused about new products, but keep an eager but wait and see attitude until I try them myself.

Well, after just one day of using the Xpointer, I was more than just pleased, I was hooked on it. It’s now the only probe I use, and have been using for the past year and a half. I have even replaced my old back up probe with a back up Xpointer.

This pinpointer has superior sensitivity, great depth, is very stable, and does not false!

I was told that its range was 3 inches or so—a respectable distance, but I have to tell you, depending on soil conditions here’s what I experienced:

After pinpointing my targets with my machine, I was finding that a lot of the targets I was digging were in the 2-5 inch range on my VDI (which we all know is just a guide), yet a lot of them were actually deeper. With my old pinpointer, it was always a kind of cat and mouse game. I would dig the plug and search around. Many times, my old pinpointer was not picking it up, so I would go back over the hole with my machine, see that the target was still buried, dig a bit deeper, and repeat if necessary.

When you can’t find the target—you get frustrated and start sticking the pinpointer all over the hole, trying to catch a signal, and then it begins falsing on you. You wonder if it’s really falsing, or if it was actually picking up the target.

This did not happen with the Xpointer–The only time it beeped was when a target was nearby, and I don’t know if its the soil conditions or what, but I felt, and still do feel that its depth is greater than the manufacturer reports.

Features & Styling:

The Xpointer has PI (pulse induction) circuitry, with 4 levels of sensitivity. It also has audio, audio & vibration and vibration settings, with the alarm and vibrations intensifying as it comes closer to your target. In addition, there is a low battery alert, as well as a lost mode, where it beeps after 3 minutes without it being used, and is water resistant.

The design is similar to the Garrett Pro Pointer, a much more sleeker and easier to use design than the old rectangular ones. It’s 9″ long, takes one 9v battery, and has 2 push buttons; an on/off switch, and one to adjust the mode.

It comes in a variety of colors, including black, camo, grey, hot pink, orange and yellow, and has a security landyard with a low resistance coil, which you can attach to your belt (and is a nice feature to keep you from losing it), as well as an end cap that fits very snugly over the tip to protect it from wear.

In addition all Deteknix pinpointers come with a 2 year guarantee.

The bottom line:

The Deteknix X-Pointer is a stable performing, sturdy probe with superior sensitivity. This pinpointer does not false, you can’t get it to false if you try. It’s easy to use and I think it performed better than advertised.

The popularity of the Deteknix brand has been so overwhelming, they have recently added the following pinpointers to their line:

Deteknix Hunt Mate
Budget pinpointer that is splashproof instead of the water resistant like the standard pinpointer. Available in camo or black.

Deteknix Dual Power Wader Pinpointer Powered by a single PP3 or 2 AA batteries. Fully waterproof to 3 meters.
Available in black.

Related

15 Comments

ronald harvey

November 13, 2015

Very good review thanks for sharing the information. I know the frustration of getting the signal from the big detector then not finding the item.I have been meaning to add a pinpointer to my gear now I know where to start shopping thanks

Hi Ron-
Even though you won’t have anything to compare it with, I think you’ll be very pleased with it. It’s PI so it works great on the beach, and it doesn’t give you false signals like some of the others I’ve used, which is frustrating. Please let me know how you like it, and Happy Hunting!

Shoot, I wish John!
I just love the darn pinpointer.
I believe it was u who commented if I would come back in 5 years time with an update on its performance, so I’m a little early,.. but I won’t forget what you said, so be on the lookout for future performance updates.

Dick mentioned he would choose Cameo. Having once lost my Black Garrett pinpointer for more than a month in the Australian bush before finding it again i would choose yellow. My Garrett now has two ribbons hanging from it. One day glow and the other reflective for a night search. I purchased a Deteknix as a gift for my daughter. She didn’t like the multi modes as it sometimes ended up on low power. Not sure if it keeps the settings from one hunt to the next. My next pointer will be the waterproof version. Once you get used to using a pointer you would wonder why they are not used by all. Ray in Oz.

Hey Ray, yellow is a good color. I have a pink one myself, hard to lose it, but not a very manly color. I also have a black one with red tape wrapped around it, and I got my guy an orange one, and that’s a good color too, as we did have to look for it once. The orange definitely helped find it.
I don’t have a problem with the settings, I’m thinking maybe since the buttons are close together she is accidentally hitting the mode button, I’ve done that myself a few times. We don’t have any problems with any of them, but they do have a 2 year guarantee, I would look into having it fixed or replaced, and see if the problem continues. Happy Hunting!

AS usual Allyson WELL written – job well done. As a recipient of the one you gave away here I am VERY thankful for it , and in my OWN opinion I too think it is as good as you say it is. It truly does NOT false and has great dept , and is rugged. WELL worth the purchase to who buys it.

I don’t know why I missed this post Dennis, sorry about that! Thanks for your comments, and stay tuned, because I have been challenged to review another pinpointer which I have been giving a good workout to in the field for the last month or so.

Hey Ally-
I know, the hot pink is such a cool color! I believe the waterproof ones only come in black and orange though. I think we should petition all the manufacturers to produce machines and gear in awesome girlie colors 🙂

Hi Allyson,
I am an avid metal detectorist (a ‘weekend warrior’) in Gisborne, New Zealand. I am motivated to check in to this forum and endorse your practical comments about the XPointer.

I purchased an XPointer about 15 months ago and admit I started out skeptical about its longevity and functionality … Like you I consider myself a ‘power user’ I am now a believer as I has never missed a beat! The only issue I have had is when the battery runs out LOL. Other than that … no falsing, reliable as, lightweight, simple to operate and was cheaper than Garett’s PinPointer (well within my meagre budget at the time).

I have fingers crossed that a future model will come out with discrimination functionality and perhaps a solar charging feature that will automatically trickle (re)charge it in the field.

Steve-
I’m glad you have also had positive results with the xpointer. It really can’t be beat if you’re on a budget (like so many of us are). I still haven’t had any problems with mine after two seasons.

New Zealand must be an interesting place to detect. I’ve some long lost cousins over there in the Christ Church area, would love to see it someday. Time will tell on that one, but if I do get there, I’m definitely going to bring my machine.

Thanks for the comment and for checking in, and as always, Happy Hunting!

NZ’s metal detecting environment tends to be a bit ‘patchy’ due to our highly dispersed and small population size. Like, along the remote East Coast where I swing my coil … the beaches are full of junk, but the ‘Tot lots’ generally have heaps of modern coins
.
In the Christchurch/Dunedin region, there used to be intensive gold mining in the early 1800’s so some of the tailings from those days are worthwhile scanning.

We have a meagre population size (compared to USA) of 4.5 million souls and the best sites to swing a coil are the four main population regions: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin. We are pretty light on history too, so one tends to focus on modern coin drops.